Investment bank Moelis opens first Latin American unit in São Paulo

Valor Internacional

US investment bank Moelis & Co. will open an office in São Paulo, its first in Latin America. Otávio Guazelli and Jório Salgado-Gama, former partners of BR Partners, will co-head the bank’s operations in Brazil. The team will also include Erick Alberti, also formerly with BR Partners. They will be partners of the Brazilian subsidiary and responsible for new hires. "We had a gap in Brazil, which now is filled, because we found the right people," Rick Leaman, Moelis executive partner, told Valor. The São Paulo office will be Moelis’s 15th around the world and will focus, especially, on financial advisory to mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructuring. Consumer, healthcare, telecommunications, media and manufacturing industries are Moelis’s initial targets in Brazil. Later on, the investment bank plans to cover segments where it has global operations, such as energy and mining.